


The Trials and Tribulations of Emma Nolan

by novoselics



Category: The Prom - Sklar/Beguelin/Martin
Genre: Dance With Us 2020, F/F, introspect
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-04
Updated: 2020-12-04
Packaged: 2021-03-10 01:48:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,016
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27876346
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/novoselics/pseuds/novoselics
Summary: An introspect into Emma Nolan for Dance With Us Week 2020 - Day 1 (character appreciation day)
Relationships: Alyssa Greene/Emma Nolan
Kudos: 10





	The Trials and Tribulations of Emma Nolan

Emma Nolan had started her life as normal as it could possibly be, living in a small town, with her mother and father. They were fair, (as fair as extreme conservatives got) but it was never satisfying, Emma had always felt out of place, and she didn’t realize why until she was around 12 years old, but we’re not there yet. Her parents brought her to church every Sunday and made sure she followed the bible’s teachings every day they weren’t there, but she never really agreed with most of it, but pretended she followed it blindly. 

She had gotten along well everyone at school, but wasn’t very popular, and she got less popular throughout each passing year. She had always had friends though, that was consistent until her freshman year of high school. Another thing, her parents had always entered her in church groups and made her go to meetings with them, and sometimes they would gossip about people not in any groups, and bash them for “faking” their religion. Emma never agreed, but didn’t voice it, she just sat, and sulked in her own feelings, never really paying attention. 

Emma truly realized why she felt different when she was in seventh grade, she realized that she liked girls, in a non-platonic way. And on top of that, she couldn’t even say she had any attraction to boys, so every other month, when her “friends” would ask about crushes, she would pick a new guy to pin her “feelings” on and leave it at that. However that didn’t stop nor help how she longed to just be herself, or how she longed to just feel normal. With all of the hate instilled throughout her whole life, but then again, she never agreed with most of it. 

She never told anyone about her true identity, or at least didn’t plan on it, but she also didn’t understand why she had to hide it. Well, Emma knew that outright saying it was an option, but not a good one. Until she met someone though church, who secretly felt the same way she did. And the person she happened upon, was also a girl, who also liked girls, non-platonicaly. She explained to Emma that her mother was the same way, willing to, in her words, “put down her foot, (if needed), if someone felt the urge to go against God’s teachings”. 

That girl that Emma met, her name is Alyssa Greene. Alyssa helped Emma solidify that she wasn’t like everyone else in their small, Indiana town. And before Emma knew it, she was crushing on Alyssa, hardcore. She knew she had to express these feelings, and needed an outlet that wasn’t someone she knew, or even somewhere she knew. She had started a youtube channel a few weeks prior, and had only posted song covers with her guitar. On top of that, she had no knowledge of anyone in town knowing of her youtube channel. So what better use, than to use it to vent her feelings? It’s not like anyone was going to notice. 

Emma Nolan was sorely mistaken about that. After she made sure her parents were out of the house, she filmed the video, and stated that she, Emma Nolan, Edgewater resident, was in love with a girl. What could be called her “downfall” came just a few hours later. The Nolan parents came home a few hours after the video was posted, and they were pissed. Doors were slammed and they were yelling before they even got into the house, and Emma genuinely had no idea why. 

As soon as they were in hearing range, Emma started freaking out, nobody was supposed to know, especially not them. The Nolan “parents” had a screaming match against their own daughter for hours until they finally just spit out that they were kicking her out, and Emma contacted her grandmother. She only lived a few minutes away so Emma packed away all her things and Betsy Nolan picked her up, permanently. It wasn’t until she was settled at her Grandmother’s house, hours later, she realized what had actually happened. 

Someone at school had seen her video and shared it to everyone else at school. Soon enough, someone shared it to parents, who eventually sent it to the Nolans. Now she was here, living with her elderly grandma, with no friends, and parents who she was considered dead to. The next morning, she had one text, and it was from Alyssa. Alyssa said that she found out what happened and that she was really sorry, and if there was any way to help. Emma said no, but then she also updated Alyssa on her new living situation, and suggested that they only hang out in secret now, as to not tarnish Alyssa’s reputation. 

Emma thought that was the lowest point in her life, but it came a few years later, when it was time for her senior prom. She was utterly alone at that moment, alone with people who only came for their own motives. She didn’t even have Alyssa this time, because Alyssa was stranded in her own issue that had to do with her mother. Emma was devastated, she finally thought people in her miserable hick town were changing for the better, but they made everything worse as an unfunny sick joke. 

But Emma was sort of past all of that now, she was living happily in New York, after all of those years of torment, with her girlfriend, Alyssa Greene. Barry and Dee Dee offered to help find them an apartment, and she happily (reluctantly) accepted. They said it was reparations for their original intent when they came to Indiana. Emma never made up with her parents, but she made peace with that, her and Alyssa agreed that they weren’t worth Emma’s time or thoughts. They had Betsy, and amazing family figures that ended up really helping the two of them in the long run, and for the first time, Emma realized that she was happy, and okay after all of her trials and tribulations.


End file.
